Amazing Race heads to NSW

What’s happening on The Amazing Race Australia this week, as it draws towards its conclusion.

Challenges include drinking a shoey – geez, times are indeed grim.

Sunday: In their first challenge, the teams are locked up in the Old Dubbo Gaol. To receive their next clue, they must plan the ultimate prison break and evade the ever-vigilant guards.

Monday: An ultimate Aussie challenge is the only thing standing in the teams’ way, as they all must hilariously do an epic shoey out of a women’s high-heeled boot in the race to the next Pit Stop.

Tuesday: In the race to the next Pit Stop, the teams need to muster the courage and embrace their inner performer as they hit the stage singing, dancing, and even completing one hell of a Hollywood stunt.



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21 Comments

  1. There’s only 4 teams left, or so. I can’t imagine how they’re going to drag this out for another 4 episodes. I imagine it’s going to be a non-elim tonight.

  2. Spoiler alert! Tonight was a non-elimination, which — given that there’s still 4 episodes to go — shouldn’t come as a huge surprise to anyone.

    According to Beau, the actual finish line of the Race is on Mount Kosciuszko, which I’ll give them props for, because that’s very cool.

    Anyway, while standing in line discussing strategy, tonight, the teams give us a hint as to why they don’t like the Wolfman and the Princess. Apparently they’ve been shifty from the very beginning (which I haven’t seen at all, but then again, this season has lasted for decades, so…), but the final straw was when they refused to eat the oysters (because they’re vegans) and sabotaged the Cowboys, during the intersection.

    That? I tend to agree with. The point of TAR is that you get forced to do unpleasant or frightening things, in order to keep racing and eventually win the prize money. Plenty of vegetarians, on this show, have sucked it up and been able to eat meat or eggs. Refusing to do so is silly, but doing so and tanking another team’s chances? And then whining about why the teams are upset with you? That’s just a crappy thing to do, Chris and Aleisha. With that, I’m on their side. It was totally wrong, that you did that to another team.

    It was satisfying seeing the other teams U-turn and force then to do the egg-eating challenge. I could’ve lived without seeing so many people throwing up, though.

    I met an emu, once. They are big animals, and while they’re very smart and quite curious, they’re rather scary, up-close.

    Also, I absolutely loved the challenge re: breaking out of Dubbo Gaol. That was brilliant, and it would’ve been very fun to do.

    • So much to agree with, WS. I didn’t think much of the oyster thing, for the reasons you say. The shunning of Chris and Aleisha was apparent before that, though, and I don’t remember seeing anything I would consider reason enough. I suspect it was a snowball sort of thing. You know, one little thing happens, and you get a black mark, and then everyone is watching for signs of shiftiness. And then when the “shun-ees” sense they are being excluded it is easy for them to respond negatively. Before you know it, it becomes a bit of a bullying situation.

      That said, the show format has to answer for the oyster challenge, by putting an intersection immediately before the pitstop. Then, last night they did it again, putting the u-turn before the pitstop. These are both big no-nos, as you have to give the disadvantaged team a chance with another straight challenge.

      Chris’ finishing the eggs was a great feat. It obviously took a very long time considering it was full dark by the time he finished. I think at the oyster challenge, they had realised that the penalties are pitiful, and they genuinely thought that both them and the farmers had a better chance if they skipped it. I presume they reflected after that, that they might have to compromise their beliefs to keep in the race.

      Did I hear either Ashliegh or Amanda say that they are allergic to eggs? When they were choosing, one of them said that pretty clearly.

      The Gaol challenge was really good, but the girls should have been penalised for taking all the mirrors. The gaolers were really funny.

  3. I used to like the cowboys & in the beginning I was rooting for them but I’ve gone right off them now. What they did to Chris & Aleisha was cruel & nasty & not strategic at all. The obvious ones to u-turn would have been the Gold Coast girls who have won numerous legs. Using that oysters challenge as an excuse was bullshit. They suggested from the beginning to take a penalty but they wouldn’t & in the end after wasting heaps of time trying to eat the oysters couldn’t eat them all anyway so ended up taking a penalty. If they’d taken it from the start would have taken less time. Poor Chris & Aleisha have only won one leg but it wasn’t one where they got to sabotage anyone & take the leg off. And for fuck;s sake it’s time to stop their stupid alliance. You are down to final 4 people. It should be every man for himself now. This ganging up on one team is getting childish & petty. Grow the fuck up.

    • You are so right, we were telling them that they have no hope of winning against the girls and should have u-turned them. No strategic thinking at all, just juvenile revenge. I wonder if the Sikhs would have done it, as they have shown at previous u-turns to be thinking more strategically.

      But, I heard one of the girls saying that they were allergic, so I wonder if the farmers were told they couldn’t do the girls? Just one of the girls could have eaten all the eggs, though.

  4. While the gaol challenge was great, the wheat harvesting was another failure (like the tassie devil one) where the teams went one at a time, and nobody could pass or drop back, and it was quite easy so unlikely that anyone would fail it.

    The Nellie Melba one was much better. I couldn’t believe how badly they all sang what it a relatively familiar tune.

    • Yes I don’t like those ones either where only 1 team can do it. It means none of the teams have a chance to catch up unless one of them stuffs up. But last nights seemed to be easy. Everyone got it first try.

  5. I think how the teams view the U-turn hints at some primary, cultural differences between the US and the Australian versions of the game, to be honest.

    The US U-turns tend to be 50/50. Sometimes it’ll get used on a team that nobody likes, just to get rid of them. There have been plenty of examples where it’s personal. One team (Joe and Heidi, I think, from season 16?) got eliminated via personal U-turn and spent the entire Elimination Station whining about it. But a lot of the time, it is strategic. You take out the strongest competition, in the vague hope that it’ll knock them out (season 5, where it was used against Colin and Christie, is probably the best example of this).

    Even the double U-turn (where two teams get the chance to U-turn somebody) became a strategic point, because instead of giving the first U-turned team a chance to U-turn someone else … another team can waste the second U-turn, just so the first team U-turned doesn’t get that chance, and is totally out of luck. That was used in season 21, I think? But it was pure strategy.

    (or the family edition, where one of the families got U-turned twice. When they survived the first U-turn and confronted their attacker? The guy told them honestly that everybody wanted them to go because nobody liked them. And, honestly, they were kind of awful. I would’ve U-turned for that reason too)

    But the Australian U-turn seems to rely more on the fair play aspects. “This team isn’t playing the way we want them to, so, get rid of them.” It’s more about punishing bad sportsmanship. Again, I was okay with Chris and Aleisha being targetted by the other teams re: the oyster thing, because that was crappy.

    Also, note that in the Australian U-turns, you *have* to U-turn somebody.

    I imagine it became mandatory, because the producers were worried that the Australian teams are too busy playing nice to target another team.

    But I don’t find myself cheering for Chris and Aleisha, I do find them annoying. I’d be much happier seeing the Cowboys, the Sikhs or the girls cross first.

    • Wait, some of those examples were for “Yields” and not “U-turns”. The point still stands, though. Either one are delaying tactics other teams use to try and knock someone out of the race.

    • We (aussies) tend to be like that in general. We usually play nice, but unsportsmanlike behaviour is really frowned on, and will be punished. I think that is why most of our competition shows have to have villains who were evident to the casting crew, not just waiting for someone to become selfish or nasty.

      The U-turn “burn” happened in the 30th season just shown on Saturdays, too. I understand it, but I don’t like it. The double U-ey is a good idea for both the game and the viewers, except when it is burned by other teams.

      I presumed the mandatory u-turn was for covid, to make the teams’ movements more predictable.

  6. This is why I don’t like food challenges. Yes, it’s okay to test the teams, but making them sick? Poisoning them to the point of physical illness? Really not cool, guys.

    Although that drag queen was very fabulous. I liked how the cowboys were thrown (one half of them never having met a drag queen before).

    Also, the entire sequence in Broken Hill is the reason why I don’t like Chris and Aleisha. They’re so whiny and when things get rough, they do not work well together. Aleisha spent the whole task complaining, “I can’t run. You’re not listening to me! I can’t run.” Aleisha, you’re on a race. You’re almost at the finish line. You knew it was a race when you signed up for it. Frickin’ run already. The other teams are struggling just as much, here, but they’re still managing just fine.

    Anyway. I’m a chemistry nerd, so I would’ve rocked the map challenge in Broken Hill. As for the answer-sharing moment, look, I know people don’t like it. But it’s in the rules. And alliances between teams is one of the things that producers love, because it’s so unexpected and it leads to so much drama, which is why it isn’t illegal game-play.

    It might not be very smart game-play — because the Sikhs are a freaking power-house of a team, and keeping them around might just bite the girls in the butt, come Sunday night — but it’s legal game-play.

    Besides, the Gold Coast girls are badasses. They’re probably not even worried about the Cowboys or the Sikhs because they’re confident they can beat them both, anyway.

    Thusly, we say goodbye to the Werewolf and his Princess. I get why they were upset — the only reason they left was because the girls gave the wheel-counting answer to the Sikhs. Without that, the Sikhs would’ve come last — but how would the cowboys have felt, getting eliminated because you refused to eat oysters? Such is the nature of the beast, guys.

    Tomorrow night, there’s an ominous clip of Beau telling somebody that they’re the last to arrive. But it’s ridiculous, because it’s not the last episode … and there’s only 3 teams left … so it’s obviously not an elimination.

    I’ll say that I like the final three. They’re all strong, powerful, smart teams who worked well together (and haven’t really fought much, at all). I’d be happy with anybody winning … although I am leaning slightly towards the Sikhs. Or the Cowboys, because the cowboys were kind of adorable.

    I am looking forward to the Finish Line in the ACT next Sunday. That’ll be cool.

    • Having come back to liking C & A over the past few legs, I returned to not liking them. This leg really didn’t show Aleisha in a good light. “I don’t like running” – what the…that’s equivalent to not being able to swim, just don’t enter the show.

      Another egg challenge? It was a good one – who knew that people eat nearly-born chickens? – but one egg challenge in a season is enough.

      However, I’m not overly keen on any of the final teams. One of the girls is good (still can’t remember which name goes with which) but the other is awful. When she said that she had worked at hooters, that explained a lot. The farmers were a fav from the start, and I think I would still like them in person, but some points of the race have shown a bit of a negative side.

      I am cheering for the Sikhs, ironically because they have been clear about playing strategically. Sometimes that has been unfair (eg asking the girls for the wheels number) but I admire that they understand the show and the tactics. I was quite turned off by the alliance in the last US season, who ruined the whole race, so this time I am pleased to see a team willing to turn on the alliance when required.

      Having said that, the Sikhs have been weak in some of the challenges or driving, and have been lucky that their mistakes haven’t been fatal. The girls are clearly the strongest team, but I don’t want them to win.

      They stuck very closely to the multicultural suburbs of Sydney. There’s much more to Sydney than the enclaves from other countries. I suppose it makes for better challenges, though, almost like travelling overseas.

      • I find the Sikhs interesting for that reason.

        They’re smart, capable, work well together in difficult or unpleasant situations and great at challenges. But they’re TERRIBLE on the road.

        How many times have we seen the Sikhs get lost, or take the wrong road, or get stuck in a traffic jam, or have trouble finding a taxi or other method of transport?

        Like, they can smash through challenges like nobody’s business (particularly eating challenges. They’ll just inhale whatever’s on the plate, and move on), but for whatever reason, the travel is their weakness. Which makes for a tenser race.

  7. 14 original teams; 2 intruders; 23 legs; 1 team retired; hurts my brain but, a non-elimination almost every 2nd round. Too many. Although I’m glad because 3 of my favourite teams in the finale.
    Princess is pathetic – falling down onto the mat, crying about them sharing info. Glad to see the back of her.

  8. Well I’m disappointed the team I was rooting for are gone. I could have screamed when they went the wrong way at the end, I don’t like the Gold Coast girls. They have annoyed me from day 1. And it was cemented when Sefa was struggling to get on that pontoon & can’t remember which one, but she didn’t help her & Skye blue got the knife for her. She said at the time that they were nasty & never helped her. I really hope they don’t win. I liked the cowboys but thought u-turning Chris & Aleisha was nasty & vindictive. They know there are vegan teams & have challenges with food that vegans can’t eat. Would they make a Muslim or Jewish team eat pork?

    • The u-turn was not only juvenile, it just wasn’t smart. You should (mostly) use the u-turn to knock the best team backwards, and I suspect that the farmers have lost the win because they didn’t consider trying to get rid of the girls.

      One of the Gold Coast girls is okay, but the one who talks all the time, I definitely do not want to see her win.

      I can’t remember many times the foods have been an issue. I think there have been teams who have stated at the start “I am _________, but I know I might face that on the race, and I will do it.” I suspect anyone who does not want to violate principles or religious belief would just not apply. Which is what Aleisha should have thought about. It is not like the food was a surprise, especially vegans who eat almost nothing.

      • There’s only one episode left, so we’re done with the non-elimination rounds for the season.

        Beau called it the final pit stop, on the promo. I guess, with covid restrictions, they might’ve had trouble flying all the eliminated teams in for a traditional TAR finish line, so they’ve just abandoned the finish line moment, and are just having a “final pit stop”. It’s a shame, because the start and finish lines are the most iconic parts of the show.

        • I hadn’t thought about that. They will have to do something else to ramp up the vibe of winning. Sit the final three in front of a laptop and have all the other teams on zoom? Shoot up glitter and confetti on top of Kosciusko? Fly them off into the sunset hanging from a helicopter?

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